Baseball glove or mitt



Dec. 29 1925' H. B. LATINA BASEBALL GLOVE OR MITT Filed July 12, 1924 hatented Dec. 29, 1925.,

UNITEB PATENT HARRY B. LATINA, OF EAST ST. LOUIS ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR TO BIAWLINGS MANU FACTURING CGIVIPANY, GE ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI, A CORPORATION OF MISSOURI.

BASEBALL GLOVE OR MI'IT.

Application filed. July 12, 1924. Serial No. 725,582.

To (ZZZ whom it may concern Be it known that I HARRY B. Iirrrxa, a citizen of the United States residing at East St. Louis, Illinois, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Baseball Gloves or Mitts, of which the following is a full clean and exact description, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to malre and use the same.

lhis invention relates to baseball gloves and mitts oi the particular type in which the thumb is spaced far enough away from the portion that receives the index finger to permit a ball to pass between said parts and strike against a skeleton-like back stop or pocket that is attached to the thumb and index finger portion in such a way that the pressure of the ball against said back stop tends to draw the thumb and index finger portion inwardly into snu engagement with the ball.

One object of my invention is to provide a glove or mitt of the general type referred to in which the skeleton-like pocket or back stop of the glove extends beyond the tip ends of the thumb and index finger portion and is so constructed that it will prevent a caught ball from jumping upwardly out of said pocket.

Another object is to provide a base ball glove or mitt of the general type mentioned in which the strands that constitute the pocket or yielding back stop of the glove are arranged in a novel manner and are secured to the thumb and index finger portion in such a way that while said strands can fiex sufii ciently to conform to the curvature of the ball they will not shift relatively to the parts to which they are attached.

Figure 1 of the drawings is a front elevational view of a baseball glove constructed in accordance with my invention: and

Figure 2 is a side elevational view of said glove looking towards the thumb.

I have herein illustrated my invention embodied in a glove that is intended to be used by fielders and first basemen, but I wish it to be understood that the invention is applicable to a baseball mitt. In the drawings A designates thethumb of a glove or mitt, and B designates the portion of the glove or mitt that receives the index finger of the users hand. lhe glove is so con structed that the thumb A can move freely relatively to the index finger portion B so as to permit a caught ball to pass between said parts, and a number of flexible strands of leather or other suitable material are combined with the parts A and B in such a way as to form a skeleton-like back stop or pocket against which a caught ball strikes and exerts pressure in a direction tending to draw the thumb and index finger portion inwardly into engagement with the ball.

In my improved glove or mitt the pocket or back stop above referred to is of considerably greater area than the corresponding part of the gloves of this general type which are now in use, and is provided with a top portion that extends beyond the tip ends of the thumb A and index finger portion B. the function of said top portion being to arrest the movement of a caught ball which tends to bounce upwardly out of the pocket or to arrest the movement of a ball whose general direction of travel is substantially lengthwise of the thumb and index finger portion, for example, a ball which strikes the palm portion of the glove a glancing blow. Preferably, the thumb A and index finger portion B are provided at their tip ends with tabs 1 to which a leather thong or lacing is connected in such a way as to form two transversely-disposed strands 2 and 3 of unequal length, the strand 2, which is shorter than the strand 3, constituting the top transverse member of the pocket and the strand 3 being of sufiicientlength to permit it to flex rearwardly and L y against the rear side of a caught ball at a point above the middle of the ball, in instances where the ball is positioned in close proximity to the crotch between the thumb and index finger. In instances where a ball enters the pocket while traveling in a direction Slll, stantially lengthwise of the thumb and index finger B, the strands 2 and 3 are engaged by the top side of the ball and accordingly, arrest the movement of the ball. The other strands constituting the pocket or back stop of the glove are formed preferably by a separate thong or lacing doubled so as to form two longitudinally-disposed strands 4 connected at their upper ends to the top transverse strand 2 from which they extend in a diagonal direct-ion to side tabs 5 on the thumb A and index finger portion B, and

thence downwardly from said side tabs 5 in substantially criss-cross relation to a loop 6 arranged at the crotch between said thuu'ib and index finger portion. In most insta the longitudinally-disposeed strands s": nil be secured togetherby alt-not .or other suitable means 6 at a point above the loop 6 and will be laced through eyelets in the side tabs 5 in such a way that the upper portions of said strands i lead rearwardly from said side tabs. The lacingor thong that constitutes the transversely-disposcd strands 2 and 3 is laced through eyelets Sin the tip end tabs 1 and is permanently secured to same by knots 9 or other suitable means so as to prevent said lacing from shitting-relatively to said tabs. The ends of the lacing that constitute the transverse strands 2 and 3 are secured together by a'knot 10 which is. also preferably used to secure the upper ends of the two longitudinal strands t to the top strand 2. As shown'in Figure 1, the lacing that constitutes the longitudinally-(iisposed strandsd: has its ends secured together by a knot 11 arranged in proximity to the loop 6 in the crotch.

While I prefer to construct'the yielding back stopper pocket of the glove in the manner above described, I wish it to'be understood that said pocketcan be formed in various other ways without departing from the spirit of my invention, so long as the members used to form said pocket are combined withthe thumb and index finger portion of the glove in such a manner that at least one of said members will be arranged transversely of the pocket at the tip ends of the thumb and index finger portion so that it will prevent a caught ball from jumping upwardly out of the pocket and also arrest a ball whose general direction of travel is longitudinally of'the thumb and index finger portion. The simplest way of constructing the pocket is to lace thongs of leather orthe like through end tabs and side tabs on the thumb and index finger portion and secure shiftingthongs together and hold them against shifting relatively to the thumb and index portion by means of knots, but obviously the strands "from which the pocket is formed could be combined with the thumb and index finger portion in other ways without departing from the spirit of my invention.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and desire'to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. A baseball glove or mitt provided with a thumb, an index finger portion, and a skeleton-1ike pocket or back stop combined with said parts and comprising an intermediate portion against which the rear side of a caught ball strikes and a-topportion secured to said thumb and index finger portion beyond thetipends of same-andarranged so as to prevent the ball from jumping upwardly out of thepocket.

2. A baseball glove or mitt provided with a thumb, an index finger portion, and a skeleton-like back stop or pocket combined with said pants and composed of transversely-disposed and longitudinally-disposed strands arranged so that the pressure exerted on same by a caught ball tends to draw said thumb and index finger portion inwardly towards the ball, one of said transverse strands being connected toathumb and index finger portion beyond the tip ends of same and disposed so that it extends across the ball adjacent the top side of same.

3. A baseball glove or mitt provided with a thumb, an index finger portion, a transversely-disposed strand secured to the tip ends of said thumb and index finger portion, and longitudinally-disposed strands arranged in criss-cross relation between said thumb and index finger portion and secured at one end to said transverse strand and .at the other end to the crotch of the space between said thumb and indexfingerportion.

4. A baseball glove or mitt provided with a thumb, an index finger portion, tabs on the tip ends of said thumb and index finger portion, a plurality of transversely-disposed strands connected to said tabs, one of said strands being longer than the other, side tabs on said thumb and index finger portion, and longitudinally-disposed strands connected to one of said top strands and extending downwardly from same through said side tabs and thence tothe crotch of the space between said thumb and index finger portion.

5. A baseball glove or mitt provided with a thumb, an index finger portion, end tabs at the tips of said thumb and index finger portion, side tabs on said parts, a loop arranged at the crotch of the space between said thumb and index finger portion, and a plurality of transverse strands and longitudin ally-disposed strands combined with said tabs and loop in such a way as to form a yielding pocket or back stopfor a caught ball that passes between said thumb and index finger portion.

6. A baseball glove or mitt provided with a thumb, an index finger portion, tip end tabs and side tabs on said parts, a lacing secured to said tip end tabs and arranged so as to form two transversely-disposed strands, one of which is longer than the other, and a separate lacing arranged to form two strands disposed in criss-cross relation and extending from one of said top strands through said side tabs to a loop located atthe crotchbetween the thumb and index finger portion.

HARRY B. LATINA. 

